The Cursed Cell Phone, Part 2

So what happened next?

While this was going on, I had to deal with two more NPBs on two more auctions.  It's as if I attract them in some way or another!!!

I finally filed the NPB on this goon, and got "her" NARUed.  I relisted the phone on January 15, 2004, and sold it on January 22, for $28.15 + $10 S&H...less than what I got on the first three auctions.  After what I went through the first three times, I figured I'd take whatever the hell I could get for it.

Payment was sent via PayPal (the FIRST time, BTW, that I got complete payment for this phone!) and the item was shipped out.  On 1/30/04, however, I got this email from the buyer:

Hi, Peter - received the phone but having trouble activating it. I'm getting
the reading `Emergency Only' and Cingular is telling me the phone may be
locked. Any ideas?

Oh oh...knowing that the phone was never unlocked (and I didn't advertise it as being unlocked), I fired off this email:

Hi,

The phone was never unlocked.  As you can see in my auction, I specified that the phone was used on the Cingular network.

Are you trying to use it on the Cingular network?  Or are you trying to use it on another carrier?

Peter

His response:

I'm trying to use it on Cingular. Been on the phone with them at least four
times. They're saying the activation code won't go through unless it reads
`Cingular' on the display, and all I'm getting is `Emergency Only.' I've been
all over Atlanta with this thing and still nothing. I just called Samsung and
they told me the phone should be picking up a signal and that it must be
defective. I even tried putting in another SIM card. Same thing. I'd hate to
think I dropped this cash only to be back at Square One...

So I called up Cingular (how great is it, btw, that even though I'm selling my cell phone, that I would eventually have to speak to Cingular CSRs in order to resolve this issue???).  I spoke to them about what my buyer was saying, and found out the information recapped in this email reply:

I'm speaking to a Cingular customer service rep at the moment.

Are you in a GSM or TDMA-based network?  The rep is saying that you can't use the phone in a TDMA network; she also says that Atlanta, GA, is a TDMA only network.

His reply:

First I've heard of that. I could chalk it up to Cingular reps being plain
ignorant, but I can't believe that four of them said the phone should be
working fine. I'll call them back and bring this up and see what they say.
Thanks, at least, for taking my emails. I'll be back shortly.

My followup, after finding out that there are certain phones that are both GSM and TDMA phones (that is to say, it's a GSM-enabled phone with a SIM card that also works in a TDMA market):

What phone had you previously been using?

If you give me that info, I can call my local cingular rep to see if your old phone was both TDMA and GSM.  If that's the case, then we have located your problem.

Did you open the cell phone contract in Atlanta?  If you did, then it must have been a TDMA/GSM phone you received, assuming it came with a SIM card.

Peter

His reply, which, at the time, really pleased me:

You're a genius, though, God, why did I ever sign up with Cingular? They hung
up on me by accident the last time I called, after a rep told me it shouldn't
be a problem to use the same SIM card. My old phone was a TDMA/GSA Nokia 6340i,
and the new rep just confirmed that I would need to pick up a 3KG SIM card at
my area store. Thanks for the info, Peter. Sorry to bug you like this. You have
heard the last from me.

I gave him a standard "thanks for being patient" email and thought this entire episode was over.  Boy was I wrong!

Unfortunately, this wasn't the issue. I took the phone into a local Cingular
store this weekend - one with technical support staffers - and the tech I
talked to picked up the phone and handed it right back. "That phone will only
pick up a signal in California, North Carolina and South Carolina,'' he said.
Apparently, that model operates on an 800 mghz band, instead of the now rampant
850 mghz band...

FAN-TAS-TIC!  After thinking that, finally, I got rid of the damn cursed cell phone, I get THIS reply!  Pulling out my hairs, I called up TWO different reps at two different times, to see what answers I could get.  Their answers are summed up below:

Hi,

I spoke to two different reps today, and they both told me the same thing.

The phone will work fine provided you have that SIM card.  One rep even told me that a few phone calls ago, another lady had the same problem, and her local Cingular store pretty much forced her to buy a new phone instead of giving up that SIM card.

Take it for what it's worth...I suggest you go back to that Cingular store and get customer service on the line with you while talking to the guy at the store.  The phone CSR told me to recommend you to call *611 and ask for the "relocation" department.

Let me know what happens,

Peter

Latest Update (2/24/04)

As of 2/2/04, I have not heard back from this buyer yet.  I seriously hope he managed to resolve everything.  If so, then I can finally say that I got rid of this damn cursed cell phone!

The best thing was, while I had to deal with this entire cell phone fiasco, I had to deal with about 15 other transactions on eBay and half.com...this has been quite a frustrating experience, needless to say!

What's Next?

I shall see if this issue can finally be laid to rest...